EDP equipment is deployed in various environments including residential and business environments. In many cases, multiple pieces of equipment are mounted in a support structure such as a two-post or four-post rack or cabinet, all of which are generally referenced herein as a “rack.” In the case of data centers, multiple racks may be configured side by side in rows. It is not uncommon today for such data centers to occupy tens of thousands of square feet.
There is limited standardization of the dimensions of the equipment and the racks, and even less standardization of the mounting structure for mounting the equipment to the racks. In this regard, the NEMA cabinet and rack standard defines a horizontal spacing of the equipment mounting flanges of a rack, a width of the main body of the inserted equipment, a vertical spacing unit (equipment may occupy a multiple of this unit), and a vertical spacing of equipment mounting holes in the vertical support structure of the rack. These standards are more specifically set forth in NEMA publications.
There are no other accepted standard dimensions for racks and equipment. For example, the depth of the equipment to be mounted is not dictated by the standard. In addition, the width of the equipment can vary, and the hardware required for mounting is not standardized.
Moreover, the functionality of the equipment mounting hardware used in NEMA standard and other racks varies. In this regard, there are generally three ways that equipment is mounted in racks. First, the equipment can simply be placed on shelves, which are mounted in the racks. Second, the equipment can be directly mounted to the racks by way of static rack mounting adapters that attach to vertical mounting rails that are either fastened to or are part of the cabinet. Finally, the equipment can be mounted to the rack via rail assemblies that fasten to the vertical mounting rails and allow the equipment to be moved forwardly and rearwardly relative to the rack for improved access.
Many different types of equipment are available from many different manufacturers. Because of the limited standardization noted above, this equipment varies substantially with regard to width, depth, height and rack mounting hardware. The result of this state of affairs is that each manufacturer is responsible for supplying rack mounting hardware that is compatible with the NEMA (or other) standard of the equipment rack. This results in considerable difficulty in installing and accessing the equipment, especially in the case of rack rails because how they attach to the equipment, how far they slide out, how they lock and release, how one removes a piece of equipment from the rack, etc., all vary. This is frustrating to personnel responsible for the equipment, and it is a significant impediment to reconfiguring the layout of equipment and racks as may be desired. For example, in the data center environment, it may be desired to reconfigure racks and equipment for improved efficiency or performance or to accommodate customer changes. However, the difficulty of removing and remounting equipment sometimes weights upon such decisions.
In some cases, the problems caused go beyond inconvenience. Installing or removing certain equipment from a rack may force the removal of adjacent equipment to complete the task. This can require down time, which is difficult to schedule, and it is potentially disruptive and expensive.
The lack of standardization of mounting equipment also results in significant capital expenditures. In particular, it is often necessary to purchase specially designed mounting accessories, such as a rail kit, in connection with the purchase of a piece of equipment. This can be a significant expenditure, particularly in the case of data centers that utilize a large volume of equipment. Moreover, as equipment is added and other equipment is removed and replaced, a large volume of such mounting hardware may be accumulated. Because this mounting hardware is often specially designed for a particular manufacturer and/or a particular piece of equipment, it is difficult to efficiently collect and reuse such mounting hardware. Equipment manufacturers also often intentionally change the design of each rail kit for each new generation of equipment, forcing the purchase of new rail kits which improves their profits. The result is that data centers often accumulate a large volume of mounting hardware, representing a significant capital expenditure, which the data center operator does not know whether to retain.